So here we go. In the 1990s we had Kitsburghers (instant citizens) who could vote in the referendum, followed by Kitskonstabels (hastily half-trained policemen to help in the fight against crime). Now we have Kitsgeregtigheid, or instant justice, to ease the way during Fifa’s subjugation of our fair land. Steal a cellphone on Monday morning, […]
2010
Posted inLifestyle
Writing is hard
I read another self-published novel the other day … the author told me it’s really hard getting published. I read his book. There are reasons they don’t publish everyone’s book. Writing is hard. Writing well is almost impossible. After putting his book down, hard, I wept to know that there are now suicide writers as […]
Posted inLifestyle, News/Politics
Oral histories: The fire and the crowd
By Zdena Mtetwa Towards the 2009 Human Rights Day celebrations, Sharpeville was a very busy township. What an experience it is, to watch communities take ownership of their own history! The dynamics that come into play are fascinating. The old make fires at the side of the road. The young are invited to come and […]
Posted inBusiness, Environment, Lifestyle, Media
Are you a ‘green’ hypocrite?
Recently a lot of my writing has focused on the issue of externalities, and how they contribute to a corporation’s profitability. What I’ve neglected is the flip side: that just as corporations should pay the full costs of their activities, so should you and I. Not sure what I’m on about? Well in essence the […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Cope: Sometimes things have to get worse before they get better
At the heart of the current battle within Cope, it seems to me, is the battle between the old, which is refusing to die, and the new, which is hindered from being born. This political stalemate will kill Cope if an urgent political intervention is not found in the next few weeks. South Africans can […]
Posted inGeneral
Malema and the vuvuzela: The shocking truth!
I thought I was getting away from politics for a while. But I now realise that the vuvuzela is to these World Cup blogs what Julius Malema is to my politics columns: a noisy, but sadly unavoidable irritant. With both Malema and the vuvuzela, their importance is far overstated. Malema: South Africa’s Robert Mugabe? I […]
Posted inNews/Politics
The power of forgiveness in international relations
The argument about war and justice is still a political and moral issue. Decisionmakers and victims alike have to examine the moral issues of warfare and at the same time, with the growing awareness of religion, pay attention to the status of religion on the subject of forgiveness in international relations. The questions that arise […]
Posted inGeneral
From the bench, onto the field
By Marcell Nimfuehr In January this year I travelled to Cameroon to make a health promotion film that featured Sylvestre, a patient who motivates others to seek treatment. Sylvestre is a softly spoken man in his 30s and at the hospital in Akonolinga town in east Cameroon he is the master of the television set […]
Posted inGeneral
Don’t forget Mbeki and De Klerk
While South Africa, and its many guests from around the world, celebrate the 19th Fifa World Cup, two of the men who made it possible have been largely overlooked. They are two of our former presidents, Thabo Mbeki and Frederik Willem de Klerk. The former was president when the successful bid was launched, the latter […]
Posted inGeneral
The war on women and men
You have to be able to talk for someone to hear you. You have to be able to speak the same language for someone to understand you. You have to be able to express yourself if you want someone to be able to empathise or sympathise with you. But what if you can’t talk? What […]
Posted inGeneral
Vuvuzela wars: The philosophy
South Africans should reject any suggestion that the vuvuzela is unpopular because we could not embrace such assertions without contradicting our own experience. The reality we know is that the horn epitomises the spirit of a football loving people, and any criticism devoid of the desire to understand the deep connection we share with the […]
Posted inGeneral
How ‘South African’ is it not to trust people?
Yesterday Marion and I went to the local shopping mall here where we live in Auckland, New Zealand. Whilst having some coffee we got into conversation with a Kiwi couple. I had first noticed him when I went to order the coffee from a takeaway in the food court. The two breakfasts he ordered looked […]